Geoff Baxter
The decision to build or renovate a house can bring you a lot of frustration. You can never know what incidents may occur during the works, so you have to make sure you think about them from the very beginning. Even if an accident for example occurs on your building site or there is damage to a neighbour’s property, you might be liable so it is important that you consult a North Shore lawyer for building contracts to make sure you are protected by your builder’s actions.
Such problems can be anything from the wall paint cracking just two days after the work has finished, to one of the workers getting injured by accident. Whenever you have to handle bulky or heavy materials and items, there’s a high risk of something falling on someone’s head and sending him straight to the emergency room.
Another common issue is that workers and builders can simply quit before finishing the job you have hired them for. If you make the mistake of giving them the entire amount of money you agreed on, you have the chance of never seeing them again and ending up with a house full of bricks, timber and debris.
Such situations and many others require you to have a well-thought out agreement with the builder you are going to hire for your works. Whether you only want to renovate your old house or apartment or you want to build a new house from the scratch, you need to make sure all possible issues are clearly detailed in your building agreement.
The problem is that your agreement may not be in line with your local laws and regulations, thus risking to become void. You can’t possibly read everything about the construction contracts and law in order to prepare a good agreement, so this is the main reason why you need to see a lawyer before hiring a builder. Lawyers know very well what such agreements should include and how they need to be written in order to provide you a solid support, should you encounter difficulties in your cooperation with the builder.
Additionally, a good North Shore lawyer for building contracts could tell you what to ask your builder to provide you. For instance, you may not be aware of the fact that builders need to have insurance in case of a work accident occurs or someone outside the work site gets injured because of the accidental fall of a brick or of another such item. Your lawyer will also be able to advise whether you need to hire a Master Builder or would you be able to work with one that does not have that level of qualification.
You might think that you are covered by the builder’s own contract but remember that this is drawn up to protect the builder. You should refer any such contract to your own lawyer before you sign it. Nonetheless, if any trouble occurs, you might find out that the builder’s agreement does not cover all possible situations, leaving you without the job done and with a big hole in your pocket or in your bank account. Such damage may exceed by far the fees of a good lawyer, so you are going to spend a lot more than your estimated budget if you want to job done. Moreover, if everything goes well, but your house collapses just six months after it has been built, you are going to be in an enormous trouble if your builder refuses to take responsibility for the hidden flaws that led to this disaster.
All these issues can be easily avoided by going to see a North Shore lawyer for building contracts to discuss the agreement you should sign in order to have everything covered.
For people living on the North Shore, McVeagh Fleming is one of the biggest law firms so give them a call or click here to get more information.